The Los Angeles Lakers are heading into recreation No. four with out star ahead LeBron James. After James suffered a groin pressure on Christmas Day in opposition to the Golden State Warriors, the workforce has gone 1-2 in his absence. Wednesday, they’ll welcome Russell Westbrook, Paul George and a powerful Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder workforce to city for a Western Convention matchup.

With LeBron now set to overlook that recreation, his timeline for a possible return stays very a lot up within the air. As Christian Rivas of SB Nation cited, Lakers coach Luke Walton revealed that the long run Corridor-of-Famer was capable of get some photographs up at follow Tuesday, marking the primary time because the harm.

“He’s doing issues … treating his harm. He bought some photographs up right this moment,” Walton stated. “He’s engaged on his physique, his recreation, himself all the time, however that was the primary time I’ve seen him shoot.”

The Lakers began off 0-2 with out the James however picked up a victory over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday to get issues trending again in the fitting path. Sadly, there’s not a ton of optimism presently surrounding the timeline for his return nonetheless, as the most recent rumblings level to LeBron being introduced alongside slowly.

Luke Walton Doesn’t Present A lot on LeBron James

Whereas James goes about his return at a sensible tempo, there doesn’t appear to be any actual concept as to when he might be again on the ground. As Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Occasions first reported, Walton wouldn’t speculate past Wednesday’s recreation in opposition to the Thunder. She went on to state that she’d be “shocked” if he returns over the weekend.

Yesterday, the Lakers dominated out LeBron James for tonight’s recreation. They’re nonetheless calling him day-to-day, and right this moment Luke Walton declined to take a position past tonight. I would be shocked if he’s again by this weekend’s journey to Minnesota/Dallas.

— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) January 2, 2019

To piggyback off that report, Harrison Faigen of SB Nation reported that Walton stated he has “no concept” when LeBron will return to the courtroom previous to the Thunder matchup. That’s definitely not a great reply from the workforce’s coach, though he might have simply been making an attempt to place the subject on the backburner with a recreation set to get underway.

Luke stated earlier than the sport that he has “no concept” when LeBron is coming again, and that he is been impressed with the expansion the younger guys have proven with out him: pic.twitter.com/63khZxBKCA

— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) January 3, 2019

Lakers’ Younger Trio Main Means With out LeBron

Whereas the expectation was that Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram would do the heavy lifting with out James (in addition to Rajon Rondo), that’s confirmed to be the case. The younger trio has completed their greatest to select up the slack and have seemed good within the course of. Though the Lakers have taken two robust losses, considered one of which got here on a buzzer-beater and the opposite a fourth-quarter letdown, there’s nonetheless purpose for optimism.

Kuzma has averaged 25 factors, 8.7 rebounds and 5.Zero assists per recreation whereas Ball was one rebound shy of a triple-double within the first recreation with out James. Ingram’s well-rounded strains have impressed as properly, with the 21-year-old scoring 22, 17 and 21 factors. His greatest displaying got here within the workforce’s win over the Kings, as he scored 21 factors with 9 assists and 7 rebounds.